Jadis
From WikiNarnia, the Narnian Encyclopedia
| Jadis, the White Witch | |
|---|---|
| |
| Birth–Death | unknown (born on Charn, long before the creation of Narnia) - Narnian-year 1000 (died at the Battle of Beruna) |
| Home | Narnia//Charn |
| Gender | Female |
| Species | Half Jinn, Half Giant |
| Family | sister of unkown name |
| Occupation | Queen of Charn, Queen of Narnia |
| Affiliation | Charn, Narnia |
| Appearances | The Magician's Nephew The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe |
Jadis, the Last Queen of Charn, was the first Narnian villain encountered by the Pevensies. Originally from the alternate World of Charn, she was accidentally brought to the World of Narnia, and although banished by Aslan, she returned 900 Narnian-years later when she usurped power from the royal family of Narnia. As a curse upon her Narnian subjects, she began the Hundred-Year Winter, thus earning her well-known title, the "White Witch", though this also probably originates from the inhumanly white colour of her skin.
Jadis later built her own palace, though claimed to still be the possessor of the original Narnian castle Cair Paravel in her self-stylised title: Her Imperial Majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia, Chatelaine of Cair Paravel, Empress of the Lone Islands, etc. She magically forced Narnia into a hundred-year state of frozen snow and ice during her reign, though she tyrannically banned the celebration of the winter holiday of Christmas throughout Narnia. Her cruelty eventually evoked the Narnians into an triumphant uprising known as the Winter Revolution.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Charn
Jadis was born of the jinnish-giantish hybrid that made up the ruling class in the world of Charn. Virtually nothing is known about her childhood or early adult life except that she begun practicing witchcraft in her own world and delved in dark magic enough to be able to effectively blast people into sand. As a member of the royal family, she became engaged in a global power struggle with her own sister as the two murderously fought to become queen of their world. At the beginning of this war, in which great armies were involved, it is clear that there was an agreement to prohibit the use of magic though, according to Jadis herself, her sister broke this promise. The final battle of the conflict lasted three days during which Jadis' forces were slaughtered completely by those of her sister until Jadis stood alone within her palace. As her sister climbed the palace terrace toward her, Jadis, rather than surrender, suddenly spoke the Deplorable Word, a terrible magical incantation that obliterated all living things on the planet except the speaker. Charn instantly became a desolate world where all living organisms perished instantly; by default, Jadis became queen.
Jadis, already addicted to gaining more and more power, concomitantly became obsessed with seeking immortality. Apparently, with no living creatures left to rule over, she placed a spell on herself that would keep her preserved until the chance occasion when someone rang a small bell located in the Hall of Images in the palace, where her body would remain statuesquely seated along with the preserved (though dead) bodies of other nobles at a long table. She would remain there presumably for centuries until she was later found by the human children Digory and Polly from Earth who had accidentally arrived in her world. Digory rang the bell, "awakening" Jadis from the enchantment. She was seven feet tall and was seen by the chidren as possessing unmatched beauty, having strangely pale white skin. Here, she recounted the war with her sister to the children, conveying to them her totalitarian ideology, her idea that different standards existed for "common people" versus for their leaders, and the belief that all citizens live only to do the bidding of their ruler. She thus justified her employing the Deplorable Word, saying that she merely killed the people who were her own people to use and destroy however she wished. She appeared psychopathically unremorseful for her actions in the past and also expressed interest in seizing control of more worlds. When Digory and Polly explained that the sun in their world was warm and yellow and not cold and red like the dying sun of Charn, Jadis realised that the sun of Earth must be younger, which inticed her; greedily intrigued, she demanded that they take her back to their world, intending to conquer it. Though they were frightened and attempted to escape her and return to the Wood between the Worlds by using their magic rings, Jadis grabbed onto Polly's hair, so that she traveled back along with them.
[edit] Earth
In the Wood between the Worlds, Jadis strangely appeared much uglier and even paler and had difficulty breathing the air, seeming suddenly weakened. The children jumped into the pool that would transport them back to Earth, though Jadis again connected to them by pinching Digory's ear. They all landed in Earth back at the house of Digory's uncle, Andrew Ketterley in England (in Earth-year 1900). Jadis seemed revitalised and, upon meeting him, declared that Andrew could not truly possess magic though he called himself a magician and that his kind (presumably she meant the non-magical human race) had been eradicated in her world a thousand years ago. Andrew succumbed to her wishes in fright and willingly acted as her slave. Jadis began plotting her takeover of Earth, however, she soon discovered that her magical ability had no effect on this world when she failed in an attempt to blast apart Andrew's sister, Letty. Instead, she physically assaulted Letty, mightily throwing her across the room and taking control of a horse-drawn hansom cab with Andrew. Letty contacted the local police.
The horse quickly went into a frenzy and crashed the cab as police officers surrounded Jadis. With inhuman strength, she broke off a crossbar piece of a felled nearby lantern post and effectively bludgeoned the approaching officers. Desperately, young Digory intervened by making several attempts to physically contact Jadis until at last he was successful, linking up with Polly who touched her yellow ring, causing them all three to be instantly teleported back to the Wood between the Worlds and safely away from Earth. The three found that the cab-driver, Frank, his horse, Strawberry, and Andrew had also arrived here having all been physically touching one another at the exact moment. When Strawberry bent down unknowingly to drink from one of the portal pools, they were all sent barreling into yet another new world: the unborn world of Narnia.
[edit] Narnia
This new world was at first completely dark when they arrived. Then a voice began to sing and light appeared along with the Great Lion, Aslan, marking the beginning of Narnian-year 1. The lion's song, it became apparent, is what was creating life all around them including grass, trees, and flowers growing abruptly from the ground. Jadis, perturbed by the sight of what was apparently the dawning of life on a new planet, approached Aslan (the obvious authority in this world) and hurled the lantern piece at him; he seemed unaffected as it struck him, landing in the ground and thus growing into a fresh new lamp-post as if it were a blossoming new tree.
Immediately afterward, Jadis left from this region of land (later named Lantern Waste) and arrived upon the Garden of Youth. Here she greedily ate the silver apples of the Tree of Youth, believing that she would no longer have to grow old or die. She also tempted Digory into eating one so that the two could live forever and together control Narnia, though he denied her wishes. Although the magic of the apples allowed her to live another thousand years, it also repelled her away from any silver apple trees so that she could not return to conquer Narnia for 900 years while the Tree of Protection still lived. She fled to the Wild Lands of the North where she became active in (and probably started) a mysterious group known as the Northern Witches, where she presumably perfected her knowledge of dark magic in order to someday vanquish the Narnian world. She also devised a personal magic wand.
After the Tree of Protection died (or perhaps its magic potency wore off), Jadis at last returned to the Kingdom of Narnia and in year 900, she named herself Queen of Narnia. She immediately put her centuries of magical study to work, fabricating a perpetual climate of snow and ice throughout the Kingdom, which not only oppressed the Narnian citizens but also ensured that no more silver apple trees could be grown. For one hundred years of Jadis's reign, the seasons of spring, summer, and autumn were extinct during this Hundred-Year Winter; she also famously banned the celebration of Christmas. Jadis became known among the Narnians as the White Witch and quickly secured an absolutist control over the nation, establishing the first Narnian Secret Police and building herself a palace of ice. She abolished any judicial system, merely punishing all of her political enemies by turning them into stone and decorating their statuesque figures in her palace courtyard. Lastly, the Witch, who at some point became aware of some part of the Golden Age Prophecy, created a law across the Kingdom that any humans who showed up were to be turned over to her (for the Prophecy had said that her reign would end only when she was replaced by human monarchs).
In year 1000, the four Pevensie children from Earth, stepped into a magic wardrobe and entered Narnia. Here, they met a faun named Tumnus who initially tried to trick them into being taken captive to Jadis, however, he instead decided to risk his own safety and to let them go free. Edmund Pevensie, who strayed off from his siblings after a fight with them, met the Witch herself who was passing by on a sledge with her Dwarf servant and bodyguard. She lured Edmund when she appealed to him by conjuring Turkish Delight which she had magically enchanted with addictive properties. As Edmund became more involved with the White Witch, his judgment became more and more obscured. Tumnus, meanwhile, was arrested by the secret police and turned into stone for his treachery against the Witch.
Around this time, Aslan, the creator and saviour of Narnia, returned, thawing some areas of Narnia, thus beginning to undo the Witch's wintry curse. The ecstatic Narnians, mostly comprising talking beasts, inspired by the return of their lord and the leadership of the Pevensies, rose into rebellion in the Winter Revolution, beginning with the Battle of Aslan's Camp (at which the Witch herself was not present) where the Witch's captain of police, Maugrim, was slain. This was the first major blow to the Witch's power.
The Witch decided to kill Edmund as the start of her purge against the human newcomers. Aslan, however, surrended himself so that Edmund Pevensie's life could be spared and the Witch willingly bound him in rope and executed him publicly at the Stone Table with the Stone Knife. Just before she killed Aslan, the Witch revealed that she fully intended to go back on her deal with Aslan and kill Edmund and the other Pevensies as well, leaving the path free for her to rule Narnia forever without any more human interference.
Aslan came back to life due to the complete fulfillment of the Golden Age Prophecy (unbeknownst to the Witch herself). The Witch, meanwhile, prepared her army for the brunt of the Narnians' rebellion. She commanded her forces at the epic Battle of Beruna and appeared to have the upper hand, though the rebels had ammassed an enormous army themselves. Aslan, however, arrived with reinforcements (all the statues from her castle whom he brought back to life) and he personally leapt at the Witch, rolling interlocked with her body for a short distance. When Aslan untangled himself, the Witch lay dead beneath him. The Battle soon turned in favor of the Narnians.
In the aftermath of the Witch's death, all four Pevensies were coronated as the new Narnian kings and queens, and the Golden Age of Narnia commenced.
[edit] Right to Rule
The White Witch made two false claims which, if true, would have given her authority to rule over Narnia. The first was that she was human. At the beginning of Narnia Aslan gave "sons of Adam and daughters of Eve" dominion over all the beasts (nontalking or talking) and magical creatures of Narnia. (Even though they can and do reproduce with humans, Narnian dwarfs are not considered to be human; they are referred to as "Sons of Earth".) Although the White Witch appears human (despite her unnatural skin color and above average height), she is actually descended from Adam's first wife, Lilith, and was one of the Djinn, on the other side she was half giant. The descendants of the union between the Djinn and the giants inhabited Charn, another world in Lewis's fictional universe. She killed her younger sister to get the Throne of Charn.
Her second claim was that she was a servant of the Emperor-Over-the-Sea and ruled by his and Aslan's blessing. Because she was the first to rebel in Narnia, by the workings of the Deep Magic, she was given ownership and the right to kill all traitors and all those who willingly would follow her. She was in essence the Emperor's hangman and carried out her executions on the stone table. In this way she could represent a Satanic figure, much more so in fact, than Narnia's other Satanic figure, Tash.
[edit] Characteristics
[edit] Physical appearence
A seven foot tall, strikingly beautiful and amazonian woman, the Witch was depicted with long black hair in the books but ash blonde in the films. Actress Tilda Swinton stated that in the films director Andrew Adamson conceived Jadis as an Aryan figure or white supremacist. Jadis had an excellent sense of style and always dressed in an extravegant manner that showed off her power and status. In The Magician's Nephew she was depicted in long, flowing romanesque robes while in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe she wore furs. In the film she has a varied wardobe, ranging from a glittering blue gown with a white fur cloak to a green, tight-fitting dress that she wore in battle. In both the books and the film, Jadis wears a crown but whereas in the books it is described as gold, in the film it is made of ice. During the Battle of Beruna in the film, she wears Aslan's mane as a headdress to show her superiority, whereas in the book, this was absent.
After eating the apple from the tree of life in The Magician's Nephew, her skin was turned white as paper and remained so in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Jadis was an incredibly powerful magician (magic running in the royal blood of Charn) but found her power largely useless in other worlds. In Charn she had the ability to blast down doors, read minds, cast frightening spells on those who annoyed her and could also employ the terrifying power of the Deplorable Word. She also had superhuman strength that she retained on earth and in Narnia.
In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe her powers have dramatically increased, to the point that she is able to keep Narnia bound in winter for a hundred years, but she uses her impressive powers more sparingly.
[edit] Personality
Jadis is depicted as the ultimate personification of pure evil in the Narnian universe, a satanic temptress responsible for bringing evil into Narnia. She was sadistic, arrogant and narcissistic, viewing herself as above all rules of conduct. She was incapable of viewing anyone as her equal and saw others simply as tools to be used or obstacles to be demolished. With all these traits it may be accurate to describe her as a psychopath. Jadis's personality was marked by a love of battle and violence and a total lack of conscience. She had no concept of loyalty and even after wiping out her entire species, showed a remorseless pride in her actions. A true megalomaniac, she was obsessed with power and filled with a desire to conquer and subjugate everyone and everything she came into contact with. Despite her vicious nature however, she could be charming when she needed to be. Jadis was also prone to violent mood swings, calm and calculating one minute and furious the next.
Jadis was shown to be extremely self-confident, almost to the point of rash impulsiveness but showed cowardice when around Aslan. She is possibly the only character in the series who possesses no redeeming traits however she is perhaps to be admired for her intellect, confidence and bravery (except in the presence of Aslan). In the film she is also portrayed as having something of a dry, cynical wit.
[edit] Weapons
The Witch's primary weapon was her wand, a long, sceptre like device capable of turning anyone or anything (with the possible exception of Aslan) into stone. In the books, the wand was made of gold, like Jadis's crown and was capable of long range firing whereas in the film, like her crown it is made of ice and requires contact with its victim to work.
In both the books and the film, she possesses a stone dagger which she uses to kill Aslan.
In the film, she is also shown to be a formidable swordfighter and employs the use of two swords in battle which she wields with deadly proficiency. In the book the swords are absent and she uses her dagger in battle, seemingly wearing her enemies down with pure belligerence rather than any especial skill.
In The Magician's Nephew, she temporarily uses a bar of metal that she snapped off a lamp-post as a weapon.
[edit] Trivia
- The Witch is based on four characters in fiction: Satan from John Milton's Paradise Lost, Ayesha from She by Rhyder J. Haggard, the Snow Queen from Hans Christian Anderson's fantasy story of the same name and the Queen of Babylon from the Story of the Amulet by Nesbit. The mythological character of Lilith was also an inspiration for her character and Jadis is said to be descended from her in the stories.
[edit] Deaths
The way the Witch dies is different in each adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe :
- In the book, the only details given are that Aslan "flung himself upon the Witch" and that they "rolled over together but with the Witch underneath". When next we see her she is dead.
- In the animated film, Aslan jumps from a high ledge and lands on the Witch, crushing her and completely destroying her.
- In the BBC film, Aslan kills the Witch with his roar.
- In the Disney film, Aslan pins the Witch down and then mauls her to death.
[edit] Resurrection Theories
- During the events of the Disney version of Prince Caspian, Nikabrik, despairing of Aslan or the Pevensies arriving, brought in a hag and a werewolf who offered a way to revive the White Witch by using Jadis' wand to create a wall of ice between two pillars inside Aslan's How. However, Peter, Edmund, and Trumpkin arrived just in time to stop them. In the Disney film, she materialised as though entrapped in the wall of ice. She tempted Caspian, who was pushed away by Peter, and then she charmed Peter, but she was stabbed from behind by Edmund, shattering the ice into fragments with the Witch disappearing instantly. This was believed to be an attempt at resurrecting the Witch.
- There is another theory (that is plausible even in the official book-based canon) that the Witch later reappears in The Silver Chair as the Lady of the Green Kirtle, and that effectively, The Lady of the Green Kirtle is merely a resurrected form of Jadis. Later in the book, she transformed into a giant green serpent, but was killed by Rilian, thus dying for certain. There is little evidence to support this theory and the theory was mostly the result of the fact that the White Witch and the Green Witch were played by the same person in the BBC adaptations of the books and that in some versions of the books series that have character descriptions at the beginning, Jadis is said to appear in both The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, as well as in the Silver Chair. Glimfeather the owl called the Green Witch "One of the same crew," referring to the "Northern witches." This could not be possible if they were one and the same. Also, if they were the same person, C.S. Lewis would have probably confirmed such a theory.
| Imperial House of Charn | ||
| Preceded by | Empress of Charn | Succeeded by |
| Jadis' younger sister | ?–? | none |
| Imperial House of Charn | ||
| Preceded by | Queen of Narnia | Succeeded by |
| unknown, eventually Swanwhite I | 900–1000 | Pevensie Siblings |
| 'Well done, son of Adam. For this fruit you have hungered and thirsted and wept.'
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